How feminist is Feminist?

It is an interesting discussion - feminism. I know that by calling it a "discussion" I am risking a self-imposed fall of the gravity of it all. But the truth is that I dont feel the fire about it the way I used to earlier.Not to say that I dont consider it important enough, but the manner of expression- rising pitch, flaring nostrils and gradually clenching fists that were replaced by the tirade of vocal expressions in college,have come to a much deeper-almost scarily judgemental attitude towards people who do not fall in line with my Feminist beliefs.Yes, from an almostdesperate need to explain & convince people to see the way I did on this topic, to becoming snobbishly "correct" in my mind (& peer group) I do think I have come a long way. My choice of friends (and now my husband) probably does pronounce the way I have moved in that regard.Probably the only people I still find it worth convincing are some of the "women" in my family who I still feel are tied down to some notions despite so much of independence of thought.

So where is the problem?
It probably is as much a part of growing up and realising how things move from Blacks & Whites to Greys.It is when I am confronted with someone questioning the depth of 'My' feminism- as to how much of it actually gets translated into action. It pops up in my head when my fairly liberal husband asks me not to cook when the maid is on leave, and I still get up to do it because ostensibly I dont want to eat out but somehwere in a deeply subconscious way I do feel that even though I may ask him to help me in the kitchen(which he does as much as his knowledge allows him to),I still have to steer that part of the household work. It springs as a big ? when I realise that I still feel embarassed when accompanied by a man to purchase my "monthly supplies of feminine hygiene products". And when I was reading this article in the Times on Sunday, I did think that what one of the women mentioned was something even I would find tiring and probably irritating- having to pick up and drop my husband from/to work.

For all the equality that I used to profess in school/college, I have started believing,more so after being in a relationship, that demanding equality in "every" thing may be too far-fetched,because men and women do differ at a very very basic level in thoughts,perspectives and behavior.Why I mention 'after being in a relationship' because I have truly donned the lens of an impartial view of the male behavior only after that.And I also realise the comparison b/w the sexes has increased to a different plane- like a lot of other couples with whom I have discussed this topic at length. Some egs that bounce off me are,how when I used to come to Chennai to visit my fiance,secretly I would wish that he was there at the Bus stand to pick me up(*which for me had nothing to do with the fact that I arrived at 4 am, but for him that was the reason)- and compare this with my opinion above on "picking up/dropping" !)...or even though our monthly finances are divided between us, the wedding costs of my half were taken care of by my parents and I was in a way okay with the arrangement..or that I still expect more gifts From him than I would ever Give him! I sometimes feel this pressure- completely created by me- where I become judgemental about my own 'first' thoughts/reactions, because they might not fit with the paradigm of the kind of feminism I grew up believing in. So I am somewhere at peace with the discomfort within me when I notice discriminating trends at work between colleagues of different gender (or used to in my previous Co),but feel helplessly hassled when I display the tendency of 'seeking advice' from my husband while shopping!

I have come to believe that the world that 'I' live in,at the moment, is much different from the one I used to,and in this world 'shouting out loud' making demands or 'preaching' the need for equality may be passe.Inequality does prevail- sometimes for the good and mostly for the bad,but in a covert way, in my slightly more sophisticated environment of living.I dont shut my eyes to the glaring evils like Female infanticide or denial of education to girls or refusal of the right to inherit parental property, and I in my very small way try and at least contribute something there- but what does leave me baffled is coming to terms with the state of flux that a woman like me is in- of being empowered,independent and yet not knowing how to handle the internal dilemna of complicated contradictory thoughts or rather the genesis of those thoughts.
Of whether to accept them and feel empowered by "conscious life Choices" or revisit my understanding of Feminism in its unsoiled form?